Water Treatment

YSHS chemistry teacher Michelle Edwards and student Austin Pence visit the YS Water Treatment Plant in 2007 (photo by Virgil Hervey)

Why is it that we only have fluoride in the water? Seems to me we’re missing an ideal opportunity to solve a whole variety of health related issues by limiting our thinking to just tooth decay.

It’s hard to keep up with the continuing flow of studies touting the benefits of chocolate, wine, aspirin, flax seed, yogurt, coffee, omega-3, calcium supplement, vitamin C, etc. If we know these things improve our health, shouldn’t we take steps to make them mandatory for the overall good of our community? I realize that we would probably need to hire a nutritional hydrologist. And sure, water will look a little different and rates might go up a bit but in the long run, our health would improve and our medical expenses would go down.

Yellow Springs was once known for its restorative waters, can we return to those days? Perhaps big city folks will make an annual pilgrimage to our little village to “take the cure,” taste the water and bask in its healing powers. Is it too late to get this added to the visioning process or at least get the Economic Sustainability Commission involved?

ADDENDUM - I’m sure there are concerns about how medicinal water might affect children. Have you ever noticed that water is not the drink of choice for most young people? We do need to be watchful but I don’t think we’ll have many children over-dosing on water. On the other hand, sugar based soft drinks do appeal children. As a side issue, I think the soft drink companies should add a little fluoride to their products – they produce drinks that are often related to tooth decay, seems the least they could is take on the responsibility for providing some preventive measures.

A. Reader